Creating comics can be a pretty lonely endeavor. Things have gotten a lot better with the advent of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other forms of social media, but it can still be lonely. This is why it is important to get out in the world and interact with people. The more you interact, the easier it will be, because the practice will make it easier.

The important thing to remember when you're interacting with people online is to be a modified version of yourself. It's easy to have a conversation online, but things can be taken in ways you didn't mean due to the fact that there is no inflection online. Your words are plain, and don't have the spice of inflection and timing that can head off what could be an offensive comment.

As a black man, I make a decent amount of racial jokes at work. Jokes that only a few at my job could make without offense being taken. That's because of inflection and timing. If the same thing were to be said on social media, it could be taken very wrong. The internet doesn't see race. It barely sees gender. What it does see is words, and people (read: Americans) are quick to take offense over something. Anything, really.

(I find it amazing that I could be investigated and possibly lose my job for having a conversation with someone, and a third person can overhear it and take offense to it, even though they have no place in the conversation and no dog in the fight. That's America.)

The modified version of yourself isn't necessarily bland. I'm not saying not to have a personality or to have an opinion about something. I'm saying that when it comes to what you say publicly, you may want to take a time out before you post. If you think something like sexual assault is okay, you might want to keep that to yourself. Say that to your friends in private. If you want to say interracial relationships are an affront to God, again, you may want to keep that private. If you want to take a census of thought on who would win in a fight between Darth Vader and the Dali Lama, then that would be okay and could spark some interesting conversation.

A modified version of yourself can go a long way. Just make sure to stay in practice.